The Kericho County Climate Change Act, no. 1 of 2021

SPECIAL ISSUE Kenya Gazette Supplement No 1 (Kencho County Acts No 1) X. ̂ REPUBLIC OF KENYA KENYA GAZETTE SUPPLEMENT KERICHO COUNTY ACTS, 2021 NAIROBI, 20th January, 2021 CONTENT Act— Page The Keiicho County Climate Change Act, 202] I PRINTED AND PUBLISHED THE GOVERNMENT PRINTER NAIROBI THE KERICHO COUNTY CLIMATE CHANGE ACT, 2021 No 1 of 2021 Date of Assent 19th January 2021 Date of Commencement See Section 1 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS Section PART I—PRELIMINARY 1—Short title and Commencement 2—Interpretation 3—Object and Purpose of the Act PART II—ADMINISTRATION 4—Establishment of the County Climate Change Steering Committee 5—Functions of the County climate Change Steering Committee 6—Department responsible for Climate Change 7—Establishment of the County Climate Change Planning Committee 8—Functions of the County Climate Change Planning Committee 9—Climate Change Secretariat 10—Functions of the Secretariat 11—Staff of the Secretariat 12—Delegation of powers of the County Climate Change Steering Committee 13—Conduct of affairs of County Climate Change Steering Committee 14—Establishment of Climate Change Waid Planning Committee 15—Functions of Ward Climate Change Planning Committees PART III—COUNTYCLIMATE CHANGE EFFECTS, ADAPTATION AND MITIGATION MEASURES 16—County Climate Change Action Plan 17—^Mechanisms for County Action Plans 18—Duty of the Public Sector in Climate Change 19—Collaboration with Private Sector on Climate Change Compliance 20—Public Awareness 2 No 1 Kencho County Climate Change 2021 PART IV—FINANCIAL PROVISIONS 21—Establishment of the Climate Change Fund 22—^Application of the Fund 23—Sources of monies for the Fund 24—^Administration of the Fund 25—Functions of the Fund Administrator 26—^Management of assets and liabilities 27—Procurement 28—Expenditure of the Fund 29—^Annual estimates 30—^Accounts and audits 31—Financial Year 32—^Monies to be allocated to wards 33—^Eligibility criteria for equitable distribution 34—Community consultative forums 35—Development of project proposals 36—^Validations of project proposals 37—^Publication of approved proposals 38—Complaints 39—Disbursements of Funds for projects 40—Removal of the fund admmistiator PART V—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS 41—^Protection fiom liability 42—^Regulations 43—^Transitional provisions 44— Complementary of projects 45—Obstruction 46—Misappropriation of funds 47— Prosecution of matters under this Act 48—Fines SCHEDULES 3 2021 Kencho County Climate Change No 1 THE KERICHO COUNTYCLIMATE CHANGE ACT, 2021 AN ACT of the County Assembly of Kencho County to establish a framework for facilitating and co-ordinating climate change governance, mitigation, adaptation, financing and for connected purposes ENACTED by the County Assembly of Kencho, as follows— PART I—PRELIMINARY Short Title and commencement 1 This Act may be cited as the Kencho County Climate Change Act, 2021 and shall come into operation on publication in the Gazette Interpretation 2 In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires — "climate change" means a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is m addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods, "climate change adaptation" means adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or anticipated adverse effects of climate change oi stimuli or their effects to moderate or exploit beneficial opportunities, "climate change awareness' means publicity and capacity building activities aimed at creating an awareness about climate change in the county, "climate change mitigation" means measuies undertaken to prevent or reduce the impact of human activity that cause climate change, "Climate Change Resilience means capability to maintain competent functions and return to some normal range of function even when faced with adverse impact of climate change, "Climate Change Finance" means monies or financing available for or mobilized by the national government. County Government, international agencies, or non-government entities to finance climate change adaptation, mitigation and interventions, "climate change finance framework" means a context specific policy Items established under this Act and any other law to guide m the application of the Fund created under this Act, "County" means Kencho County, 4 No 1 Kericho County Climate Change 2021 'County Assembly" means the County Assembly of Kericho County, "County Government" means the County Government of Kericho, ' County Climate Change Action Plan" means a documented set of co-ordinated actions to address climate change mitigation and adaptation to enhance resilience m the County, "County Climate Change Secretariat" means secretariat established under this Act to co-ordinate climate change governance, mitigation adaptation, finance and resilience, "County Planning Framework" means a County planning framework established by the County Government and includes the County Integrated Development Plan and other development plans as defined m the County Governments Act, 2012 and the Public Finance Management Act, 2012, "County Tieasury" has the meaning assigned to it under section 103 of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012, "Executive Committee member" means the County Executive Committee Member responsible for matters of Climate Change in the County, "Financial Year" means a period of twelve months ending on 30th June each year which is in conformity with the timelines for the County budget outlines m section 125 and 131 of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012, "Fund" means Kericho Climate change Fund account established under section 21, "Mainstreammg" means the integration of climate change actions into decision making and implementation of functions by the County departments "Public Benefit Organization" has the meaning assigned to it under the Public Benefit Oiganizations Act, 2014 "Ward" has the meaning assigned to it under article 89 of the constitution Object and purpose of the Act 3 The object and purpose of this Act is to establish a County Climate Change framework and structures to— (a) mainstream climate change programs into development plainnng, decision making and advisory on climate change in the County, 5 2021 Kencho County Climate Change No 1 (b) co-ordinate, collate and disseminate information on climate change to the public to create awareness and preparedness, and (c) establish a climate change fund, fmanciaf mechanism and governance framework for climate change response and risk mitigation PART II—ADMINISTRATION Establishment of the County Climate Change Steering Committee 4 (1) There is established a committee known as the County Climate Change Steering Committee comprised of— (a) the County Executive Committee Member responsible for climate Change matters who shall be the chairperson, (b) the County Executive Committee Member responsible for finance, (c) the County Executive Committee Member responsible for Agriculture, (d) the County Executive Committee Member responsible for Public Administration, (e) the County Executive Committee Member responsible for Health services, (f) the County Executive Committee Member responsible for Public Works, (g) the County Attorney, (h) a person from the National Government responsible for meteorological services m the County, and (i) the Chief Officer responsible for Climate Change matteis who shall be the Secretary (2) The Fund Administrator shall be a co-opted member of the County Climate Change Steering Committee (3)The County Climate Change Steering Committee may co-opt one or more persons with relevant expertise when needed to advice on specific matters Functions of the County Climate Change Steering Committee 5 The County Climate Change Steering Committee shall— (a) approve, mainstream and oversee the implementation of the County Climate Change Action Plan, 6 No 1 Kericho County Climate Change 2021 (b) facilitate the co-ordination of climate change finance projects and programs m the County, (c) advise the County Government on legislative, policy and other measures necessary for climate change adaptation and mitigation, (d) provide strategic direction, leadership and ovei sight to the climate change secretariat, (e) provide policy direction on research and training on climate change including on the collation and dissemination of information relating to climate change to the County Government, the public and other stakeholdeis, (f) provide guidance on review, amendment and harmonization of sectoral laws and policies in order to achieve the objectives of this Act, (g) develop necessary linkages for the climate change fund established under this Act with the national government and other relevant stakeholders, (h) formulate programs and plans to enhance resilience and adaptive capacity of human and ecological systems to the impacts of climate change in the County, (i) mainstream disaster risk reduction strategies and actions of public and private entities m the County, 0) provide incentives and obligations for private sector contribution m achieving low carbon climate resilient development m the County, (k) promote monitoring, evaluation, reporting and verification of climate change mitigation and adaptation imtiatives, (1) piomote uptake and efficient use of low carbon emission technologies and practices at the community level, (m) mobilize resources to support climate change programs, and (n) perfoim any other function that may be assigned from time to time Department responsible for Climate Change 6 (1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Department responsible for climate change shall be responsible for the implementation of this Act 7 2021 Kencho County Climate Change No 1 (2) The Department shall— (a) formulate and periodically review the Climate Change Policy, strategy, regulations and submit to the County Climate Change Steering Committee for approval, (b) co-ordinate integration and mainstreaming of climate change actions, interventions and duties set out m this Act, into various sectors, (c) co-ordinate mainstreaming the advisory of the National Climate Change Action Plan m County integrated development plan and the County sectoral plans, and (d) submit reports on climate change actions to the County Assembly for review and debate and a copy of the report to the National Directorate of Climate Change for infoimation purposes at the end of every financial year, (e) the County Assembly shall, within six months of receiving the climate change report, provide recommendations and proposed actions to the County steering committee, the Executive Committee Member, the climate change secretariat and any other County department or entity (3) The Department shall liaise with the County Climate Change Steering Committee m the discharge of its duties and functions under this Act Establishment of County Climate Change Planning Committee 7 (1) There is established a County Climate Change Planning Committee (2) The Committee shall compiise of— (a) Chief Officer responsible for environment as the Chairperson (b) Chief Officer responsible for finance and planning, as Vice Chairpeison, (c) Chief Officer responsible for water or a designated repiesentative appointed m writing, (d) Chief Officer lesponsible for Agriculture or a designated repiesentative appointed m writing, (e) Chief Officer responsible for Health Services or a designated repiesentative appointed m writing, (f) Chief Officer responsible for public v/oiks or a designated representative appointed in writing. 8 No 1 Kencho County Climate Change 2021 (g) two Representatives of Ward Planning Committees, (h) one person to represent youths m the County, (i) one person to represent women m the County, (j) one person nominated by the National Council for persons with disabilities in the County, (k) a representative of key economic sectors m the County (1) a representative from a County wide Community Based Organizations or Public benefit organization (m) County Director of meteorological department, and (n) other persons co-opted to provide technical advice, whether on full time basis or on need basis The functions of County Climate Change Planning Committee 8 (1) The Planning Committee will draw sitting allowances and be entitled to reimbursements for travel expenses while on official business (2) The County Climate Change Planmng Committee shall— (a) review prioritized and sequence projects submitted by Ward Climate Change Planning Committees based on the criteria, (b) provide additional technical support where this is needed to improve the Ward Climate Change Planning Committees' proposals, (c) organize mter-ward meetings to review, refine and collate proposals from wards into a Coimty Adaptation Plan, (d) based on the approved criteria, apprave the proposals, (e) forward the appioved project proposals to County Climate Change Steering Committee through the Fund Administratoi for validation and funding, and (f) identify county wide climate change needs and vulnerabilities, prepare project proposals and submit them to the County Climate Change Steering Committee for funding Climate Change secretariat 9 (1) There is established a Climate Change Secretariat m the County Department responsible for climate change which shall be the secretariat for the Climate Change Steering Committee 9 2021 Kericho County Climate Change No 1 (2) The secretariat shall be responsible for development of climate change plans and then implementation (3) The secretariat shall be headed by the Director responsible for climate change Functions of the Secretariat 10 (1) The secretariat shall perform the following duties and functions— (a) implement climate change legislation and policy, (b) implement climate change plans and actions and report to the County climate change steering committee, (c) advise the County climate change steering committee on matters relating to legislation, policy, coordination, and monitoring climate change governance, (d) be responsible for coordination and monitoring of climate change governance, (e) provide teclinical support on climate change matters to County Departments and agencies, (f) establish and manage a County climate change database and registry for dissemination of information and knowledge on climate change, (g) develop and implement low carbon emission strategies, (h) prepare and submd operational and statutory reports to the lelevant authorities, (i) develop, co-ordinate and implement climate change related reseaich and innovations, (j) develop guidelines for climate change projects eligibility criteria, (k) ensure need based allocation of the monies available m the climate change fund with regard to the projects leceived from the ward administrators, (1) foimulate monitoring and evaluation tools for projects financed by the climate change fund, (m) facilitate public participation at ward level in formulation of climate change programs and plans, (n) receive project proposals from the ward and develop technical components of the pioposals, budgets and woik plans, and 10 No 1 Kencho County Climate Change 2021 (o) perform any other function related to climate change as may be assigned by the County Climate Change Steering Committee Staff of the Secretariat 11 The Executive committee member shall ensure appiopriate staffing levels for the Climate Change Secretariat to effectively perform its functions under this Act Delegation of powers of County Climate Change Steering Committee 12 Subject to the provisions of this Act, the County Climate Change Steering Committee may delegate m writing the exercise of any of its functions under this Act Conduct of affairs of County Climate Change Steering Committee 13 (1) The County Climate Change Steering Committee shall meet once every three months (2) The County Climate Change Steering Committee shall conduct its affairs m accordance with guidelines under the First Schedule (3) Members of the County Climate Change Steering Committee shall be paid such allowances m line with the guidelines of Salaries and Remuneration Commission Establishment of Climate Change Ward Planning Committee 14 (1) There is an established Ward Climate Change Planning Committee m each Ward (2) Each Ward committee shall comprise of the following persons, appointed by the County Executive Committee Member-— (a) Community lepresentatives appointed as follows— (j) two persons elected by the community m the waid, (ii) one person nominated to represent the youths m the waid, (ill) one person nominated to represent the women m the ward , (iv) one person nominated by the National Council for persons with disabilities m the ward, (b) one person nominated to represent Community Based Organizations oi Public benefit oiganization actively operating m the ward, (c) one person nominated to repiesent oiganized lehgious groups in the ward, (d) Waid Admmistiatoi, and 11 2021 Kencho County Climate Change No 1 (e) Environment Officer (3) The members of the ward committees under subsection (2)(a) and (b) shall — (a) be residents of the respective Wards, (b) have completed their O' level or its equivalent, (c) Member of the committee must fulfil the requirement of Chapter Six of the Constitution on Leadership and Integrity, and (d) have proven track record of community service m the Ward (4) The first Ward committees meetings shall be convened by the sub county administrator for puiposes of electing the chairperson and secretary (5) The ward climate change planning committee will hold office for a period of three years which may be renewed for a single further term of three years Functions of Ward Climate Change Planning Committees 15 (1) The Ward Climate Change Planmng Committees shall— (a) hold consultative meetings with communities together with relevant government planners, agencies and local orgamzations, (b) conduct participatory livelihood and local economy resilience assessments These assessments shall enable different groups, within the wider community, to identify what improves or undermines their ability to manage challenges arising from increasing climate variability and long-term change, (c) use the findings to prioritize and design investments that will promote climate change resilience,""growth and adaptive livelihoods based on agreed criteria, (d) prepare programme and project proposals, aggregate and co ordinate sub-ward resilience needs and pnonties identified and prioritized through community participation, and (e) prioritize proposals and submit them to the County Climate Change Planning Committee for consideration and approval and forwarded to the County Climate Change Steeimg Committee for funding (2) The Ward Climate Change Planning Committees shall conduct its affairs in accordance with guidelines under the Second Schedule 12 No 1 Kericho County Climate Change 2021 PART III—COUNTY CLIMATE CHANGE EFFECTS ADAPTATION AND MITIGATION MEASURES Climate Change County Action Plan 16 (I) The County Climate Change secretariat shall formulate a County Climate Change Action Plan that shall be presented to the County Climate Change Steering Committee (2) In formulating the County Climate Change Action plan, the secretariat shall be informed by— (a) scientific knowledge about climate change, (b) technology and technological innovations about climate change, (c) legal and policy framework relating to climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem, (d) indigenous knowledge related to climate change adaptation and mitigation, (e) social, economic and political ciicumstances that are likely to impact the action plan, and (f) outcomes of public participation Mechanisms for the County Climate Change Action Plan 17 (1) The County Climate Change Action Plan shall prescribe measures and mechanisms to— (a) guide the County towards achieving low carbon emission and climate lesihent sustainable development, (b) develop actions for mamstreaming climate change responses into sector functions for adaptation and mitigation against climate change, (c) develop a structure for public awaieness and engagement m climate change response and disaster risk ieduction, (d) enhance energy conservation, efficiency and use of renewable energy in industrial, commercial tianspoit domestic and other uses, (e) identify outputs, overall budget estimates and timeframes to leahze expected results, and (f) strengthen climate change research and development training and technology transfer 13 2021 Kericho County Climate Change No 1 (2) The County Climate Change action plan shall address all sectors in the County and provide mechanisms for mainstreammg of the County climate change action plan into those sectors (3) Approval of the County Climate Change action plan by the County climate change secretariat shall be by notice in the Gazette (4) The Department responsible for matters of Climate Change shall— (a) review and update the County climate change action plan after every five years, and (b) ensure that public and private bodies or a person engaged in climate change governance and administration is when exercising any power or discharging any function under this Act be bound by the County Climate Change Action Plan Duty of public sector m climate change 18 (1) The Executive Committee Member may impose obligations relating to climate change on any public body falling within the mandate of the County Government (2) The Executive Committee Member may with the concurrence of the National Government impose obligations relating to climate change on any public body falling within the mandate of National Government (3) The obligations that the Executive Committee Member may impose include a requirement that the public entity— (a) integrates the County Climate Change Action Plan into sectoral strategies and other implementation projections for the assigned legislative or policy functions, (b) reports on climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation interventions for County inventory, (c) implements mechanisms for the sustamability in performance ot sectoral mandates on Climate Change, (d) reports annually to the executive committee member on the status of progress of performance and implementation of all assigned Climate Change duties and functions, (e) regularly monitors and reviews the performance of the integrated climate change functions through sectoral mandates, and (f) co-ordinates the mainstreammg of the climate change action plan and other climate change statutory functions and mandates into sectoral strategies for implementation 14 No 1 Kencho County Climate Change 2021 (g) designate a senior officer to coordinate the mamstreaming ot the climate change action plan and other climate change statutory functions and mandates into departmental strategies for implementation, Collaboration with private sector on climate change compliance 19 (1) The County Government may collaborate with other agencies both public and private on matters relating to climate change (2) Nothing contained m this Act prevents two or more wards with similar climate change projects from collaborating Public awareness 20 (1) The County Climate Change Steermg Committee shall publish and publicize all important information within their mandate (2) Any person may request for information from the County Climate Change Steering Committee, and such request for information— (a) shall be addressed to the Secretary of the County Climate Change Steering Committee oi the Climate Change Fund Administrator or such other designated person, (b) may be subject to the payment of the prescribed fee m instances where the County Climate Change Steermg Committee incurs an expense m providing information, and (c) may be subject to confidentiality requirements of the County Climate Change Steering Committee (3) Subject to Aiticle 35 of the Constitution, the County Climate Change Steering Committee may decline to give mfoimation to an applicant wheie— (a) the request is considered unreasonable in the circumstances, (b) the information requested is at a deliberative stage within the Council or Directorate, (c) the prescribed fee is not paid, oi (d) the applicant fails to satisfy any confidentiality requirements of the County Climate Change Steermg Committee (4) Every peison is under an obligation to provide climate change information as may be required by law (5) A peison commits an offence if the person— 15 2021 Kencho County Climate Change No 1 (a) fails or refuses to give information that the person may lawfully be required to give to the County Climate Change Steering Committee, or (b) gives false or misleading information to the County Climate Change Steering Committee (6) A person who commits an offence under subsection (5) is liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand shillings or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six month, or both PART IV—FINANCIAL PROVISIONS Establishment of the Climate change fund 21 (1) There is established a Fund known as Kencho County Climate Change Fund to generate funds for implementation of climate change programme Application of the fund 22 (1) The fFund shall be applied to— (a) finance implementation of approved climate change projects and programmes, (b) finance climate change resilience and its assessment, (c) finance through grants and loans the implementation of climate change adaptation and mitigation actions, (d) piovide funds for climate change research and innovation in the following fields— (i)industiial lesearch, (ii) technological research, (ill) policy fonuulation, (iv) scientific reseaich, and academic reseaich, (e) provide grants and loans to business industry civil society, academia and other stakeholders foi development of innovative actions that benefit climate change responses in Kencho County, (f) finance monitoring and evaluation exercise including documentation, photography and video recording of climate change projects and piogrammes, (g) capacity building activities at County level, (h) defray administiative costs which shall not exceed three percent 3% of tne fund pei financial yeai 16 No 1 Kericho County Climate Change 2021 (2) The expenditure incurred from the Fund shall be on the basis of, and limited to, annual work plan and cost estimates which shall he prepared by the Administrator of the Fund and approved by the County Climate Change Steering Committee at the beginning of the financial year to which they relate (3) Any revision of the approved annual work plan and of any cost estimate shall be leferred to the County Climate Change Steering Committee for approval Sources of monies for the Fund 23 (1) The sources of monies for the Fund shall include— (a) monies appropriated by the County Assembly for the purpose of the Fund, of an amount not less than 1 % ( one percent) of all the county annual budget m every financial year, (b) monies from the National government, (c) grants, donations and endowments, (d) climate finance received from International entities and donors, (e) income from fees, charges or penalties imposed for services, (f) grants and loans from the National climate Fund, (g) funds raised by stakeholders and supporters, and (h) Interest accruing from bank deposits in respect of the Fund (2) Any unused monies at the end of the financial year shall be retained m the Fund and carried forwaid to the next financial yeai as piovided foi in section 116(3) of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012 (3) Despite subsection (2) any unused monies but aheady committed at the end of the financial yeai shall be retained m the Fund but shall not form part ot the annual allocation for the Fund for the next financial yeai (4) The County Government shall at the commencement of this Act provide seed money to operationalize this Fund Administration of the fund 24 (1) There is established the Office of the Fund Administrator of the County Climate Change Fund who shall be the accounting officer of the Fund 17 2021 Kericho County Climate Change No 1 (2) The Executive Committee Member for finance shall designate the County Director responsible for Climate Change to be the Administrator of the Fund " 1 (3) The Fund Administrator shall be responsible for the day to day activities of the Fund Functions of the Fund administrator 25 (1) Reporting to the County Climate Change steering committee, the Fund Administrator shall— (a) within three months after the end of the financial year prepare accounts for the Fund for that financial year, (b) not later than three months after the end of each financial year submit statement relating to the account to the Auditor-General (c) prepare quarterly financial statements for the Fund and non financial performance of the Fund, (d) present financial statements of the Fund to the County Assembly every financial year, (e) not later than 15 days after the end of each quarter submit the quarterly report to the County treasury and a copy to the controller of budget, (f) supervise and manage operations of the bank account of the Fund, (g) ensure adequate budgetary provision for the Fund, (h) ensure that the Fund balances are administered in accordance with the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act and that the Fund balances are re-budgeted at the end of financial year, (i) prepare a framework for receiving and evaluating pioject proposals, 0) prepare and publish a yearly work plan, (k) develop a framework for linkage between the County Climate Change Steering Committee and the ward structures and between the County and other stakeholders, (1) implement the decisions of the County Climate Change Steering Committee, (m) publish the eligibility criteria for selection of projects developed by the County climate change steering committee. 18 No 1 Kertcho County Climate Change 2021 (n) co-ordinate the disbursement of monies allocated to projects approved by the County Climate Change steering committee, (o) co-ordinate capacity building programs for the ward level structures, and (p) any other duty assigned by the County Climate Change Steering Committee (2) The fund administrator shall cause an account to be opened in any commercial bank, approved by the county Treasury and the account shall be known as the "Kericho County Climate Change Fund Account" (3) The signatories stated in the subsection (2) above shall be the fund administrator and three other members (4) The three other signatories of the account shall be— (a) the Chief Officer to matters relating to climate change , (b) the Chief Officer to matters relating to finance' (c) Project Co-ordinator (5) The signing instructions shall be such that signature of the fund administrator shall be mandatory on all payments cheques and instruments for actual release of moneys from the fund plus two other person of the three signatories left (6) The County Executive Member responsible for Finance shall issue on the banking arrangements for the Fund pursuant to the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012 Management of assets and liabilities 26 (l)The Fund Administrator is— ^a) responsible for the management of the Fund's assets and liabilities, and (b) shall manage those assets in such a way as to ensure the fund achieves value for money m acquiring ,using and disposing of those assets (2) The fund admmistiator shall dispose of the assets only m terms of the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2015 and pursuant to article 227 of the constitution and shall ensure that the proceeds from all assets disposal are credited into the Bank Account 19 2021 Kericho County Climate Change No 1 Procurement 27 The fund administrator shall establish appropriate procuiement processes for each ward committee Expenditure of the Fund 28 (1) There shall be paid out of the Fund payments m respect of any expenses incurred pursuant to the object for which the Fund is established including— (a) providing grants for climate change policy formulation, research and irmovation, (b) providing grants to businesses, industry, civil society, academia and other stakeholders for development of irmovative actions that benefit climate change responses m the county, (c) financing, through grants, the implementation of climate change adaptation and mitigation actions, and (d) providing technical assistance to other stakeholders, where appropriate Annual estimates 29 (1) At least three months before the commencement of each financial year the County Climate Change Steering Committee shall cause to be prepared estimates of the levenue and expenditure of the Fund for that year m accordance with the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act, 2012 (2) The annual estimates shall make provision for the all the estimated expenditure of the Fund tor the financial year concerned and m particular shall provide for— (a) payments of climate change related projects, (b) the operations of the Fund, (c) payment of allowances, (d) maintenance of assets of the Fund, (e) compensation tor claims, and (f) such other matters as the County climate change secretariat shall, in consultation with the County climate change steering committee determine (3) The annual estimates shall be prepared by the secretariat and submitted to the County Climate Change Steering Committee for appioval and after the County climate change steering coimmttee has given 20 No 1 Kencho County Climate Change 2021 approval secretaiiat shall not change any sum provided m the estimates without the consent of the County Climate Change Steering Committee (4) No expenditure shall be incurred from the Fund except for the monies voted or appiopriated by the County Assembly Accounts and audits 30 (1) The Fund Administrator shall cause to be kept all proper books and records of accounts of the income, expenditure, cash flows, assets and liabilities of the Fund (2) Within a peiiod of three months after the end of each financial year, the Fund Administrator shall submit to the Auditor-General the accounts of the Fund in respect of that year together with— (a) a statement of the income and expenditure of the Fund during that year, and (b) a statement of the assets and liabilities of the Fund on the last day of that financial year (3) The annual accounts of the Fund shall be prepared, audited and reported upon m accordance with the provisions of the Public Audit Act, 2015 Financial year 31 The financial year of the Fund shall be the peiiod of twelve months ending the thiitieth June of each year Monies to be allocated to wards 32 (1) The County Climate Change Steering Committee shall ensure that adequate lesources aie allocated to climate change activities at ward level (2) The Coanty Climate Change Steering Committee shall piepaie and publicize through the County website and public participation fora information on the allocation of funds available for each Ward (3) County Climate Change Steering Committee shall be guided by the following factors m detennimng the allocation of funds to the wards— (a) equitable distribution of the resources from the Fund m accordance with the eligibility criteria m section 33, (b) propensity of a Ward to climate disasters, and (c) the level of vulnerability to climatic disasters of the populations in each ward 21 2021 Kencho County Climate Change No 1 (4) The County climate change steering committee shall develop and publish eligibility criteria for climate change programs financing Project eligibility criteria 33 The eligibility criteria for equitable distribution of resources from the Fund to Climate Change projects shall be based on the following parameters— (a) possibility and magnitude of the risk occurrence, (b) promotion of Climate resilience in the locality through climate mitigation or adaptation, (c) support for economic growth through Climate adaptation, (d) communal benefit including vulnerable groups with clear consideration for gender representation, (e) conducted situation analysis including social safety nets, (f) defined monitoring and evaluation plan, (g) a sustainabihty plan, (h) provision of a platform for stakeholder engagement, (i) must have a properly conducted environmental impact assessment where relevant, 0) must have a clearly defined monitoring and evaluation plan with measurable indicators, (k) must have sustainabihty plan, (1) must enliance use of inbuilt skills and technology transfer, and (m) any other consideration that may deemed relevant by the County climate change steering committee Community consultative forums 34 (1) Each Ward Administrator shall convene community consultation fora of all the community area councils established under section 4 of the Kencho County Decentralized Units Act, 2015 (3) The agenda for the community consultation fora shall be to— (a) create Climate Change awareness, (b) sensitize the community on Climate Change Fund pioject eligibility criteria, and (c) identify prioiity projects 22 No 1 Kencho County Climate Change 2021 (4) The Ward committee shall prepare a report on community consultation fora, and submit it to the County steering committee for approval (5) Each Ward Administrator shall ensuie efficacy of public participation and consultations at the ward foium as prescribed under the Kencho County Public Participation Act in enforcing provisions of this Act (6) Notwithstanding subsection (2) any person who wishes to participate at a Ward climate change forum shall have the liberty to do so Development of project proposals 35 (1) The ward committee shall in consultation with County Climate Change Secretariat prioritize project proposals from the project priorities identified m section 34 (3) and include any necessary technical details for each project (2) The County Climate Change Secretariat shall publish the list of all project proposals received on the County website and submit the selected project proposals to the County Climate Change Steering Committee for consideration within two weeks of completion of the process m subsection (1) Validation of project proposals 36 (1) The County Climate Change Steering Committee shall undertake a pioject validation process within four weeks after receiving the project proposals from the County Climate Change Secretariat and— (a) approve the project proposals and communicate then decision to the County Climate Change Secretariat and the respective ward committees, (b) reject the project proposals with reasons given in writing and communicate its decision m writing to the County Climate Change Secretariat and the respective ward committees, or (c) return the project proposals to County Climate Change Secretariat and the respective Ward committees with recommendations for amendments (2) The County Climate Change Steering Coimnittee may, m order to facilitate the approval of the project proposals, constitute a Sub-county Project Evaluation Team m every sub county comprising of— (a) County staff from relevant departments, 23 2021 Kericho County Climate Change No 1 (b) consultants and technical personnel from participating institutions, and (c) consultants procured by the county climate change steeling committee (3) Each sub-county project evaluation Team shall validate project proposals or piogrammes for the various wards within the sub county Publication of approved project proposals 37 The Fund Administrator shall publish on County website and at respective sub-County and ward offices a list of the approved project proposals for each ward Complamts 38 (1) A person from the respective ward who is aggrieved by the decision of the Ward Administrator, sub County Administrator, County Climate Change Secretariat or County Climate Change Steering Committee shall submit the complaint to the Chairperson of the County Climate Change Steering Committee within one week of the completion of the validation process (2) Where the chairperson of the County Climate Change Steering Committee receives a complaint under sub section (1), he or she shall provide feedback to the complainant within two weeks of receipt of the complaint Disbursement of funds for projects 39 (1) The Fund Administrator shall disburse funds for approved project proposals in accordance with prescribed procedures (2) The Fund Administrator shall in consultation with County Climate Change Steering Committee reallocate funds allocated to a project where he ci she becomes awaie that the funds may not be utilized within a financial year within which it is budgeted (3) The reallocations of any funds m subsection (2) shall only be done within the respective ward, (4) The County Executive Member for Finance shall develop regulations for the better administration of this section Removal of the Fund Administrator 40 The Fund Administrator may— (a) at any time resign by issuing notice m writing to the Chairperson of the County Steering Committee, 26 No 1 Kencho County Climate Change 2021 FIRST SCHEDULE (s 13 (2) PROVISIONS AS TO THE CONDUCT OF THE BUSINESS AND AFFAIRS OF THE COUNTY CLIMATE CHANGE STEERING COMMITTEE 1 The Count}' Climate Change Steering Committee shall meet once every quarter ot each financial year 2 The chairperson may at any time when there is urgent business to transact convene a special meeting of the County Climate Change Steering Committee 3 In the absence of the Chairperson, the members present shall elect one ot the members present to preside 4 Unless a unanimous decision is reached, a decision on any matter before the County Climate Change Steering Committee shall be by a majority of the members present, and in the case of an equality of votes the chairperson or person presiding shall have a casting vote 5 The quorum for the meetings of the County Climate Change Steering Committee shall be five members including the Chief Officer responsible for climate change 6 A member who has a direct or indirect interest m a matter being considered or to be considered by the County Climate Change Steering Committee shall, as soon as the relevant facts regarding the matter come to the knowledge of the member, disclose the nature of such interest m writing, and shall not be present during any deliberations on the matter 7 The Chief Officer responsible for climate change matters and Climate Change Fund Administrator shall sit in all the sub-committees of the County Climate Change Steeiing Coimmttee 8 The County Climate Change Steering Committee shall cause the minutes of all the proceedings of its meetings to be recorded and kept by the secretary to the County Climate Change Steering Committee, and shall be signed by the chairperson or the person presiding at the meeting 9 The County Climate Change Steering Committee may constitute specialized sub-committees provided that the decisions of the sub committees shall be subject to approval of the County climate change steering committee 10 The County Climate Change Steering Committee or the sub committee thereof may co-opt up to a maximum of two persons with specialized skills or knowledge of the subject matter at their respective 27 2021 Kencho County Climate Change No I sittings to assist the County climate change steering committee or the sub committees, as the case may be, m discharging their mandate 11 Save as provided in this Schedule the County Climate Change Steering Committee may regulate its own procedure 2g Ko ] Kencho County Climate Change 2621 SECONIXSCHEDULE (s 15 (2> CCH^DUCT OF BUSINESS AND AFFAIRS OF WARRCLIMATE CHANGE PLANNING COMMITTEE 1 (1) Each Committee shall meet quarterly m every financial year and not more than four months shall elapse between the date of one meeting and the date of next meeting (2) Notwithstanding sub-paragraph (1) the chairperson may, and upon requisition in writing by at least five (5) members convene a special meeting of committee at any time for urgent, unforeseen and contingent transaction of the business of a committee (3) Before a special meeting is convened by a chairperson of any ward committee pursuant to sub-paragraph (2) she/he shall make a request to be addressed to the chairperson of the steering committee approval of the meeting before the notice is sent out to ward committee members for such attendance (4) unless three quarters of the total members of committee otherwise agree at least fourteen (14) days written notice of every meeting of a committee shall be given to each committee members (5) the quorum for the conduct of the business of a committee shall be a simple majority (6) The Chairperson shall when present preside at every meeting of a committee (7) The Deputy-Chairperson shall when the chairperson is absent, preside at every meeting of a committee In case the substantive piovisions of this Act do not provide foi the appointment of a chaiiperson, then the members shall elect a deputy chairperson for each committee, at the inaugural meeting of each committee (8) The members piesent shall elect one (1) membei from amongst themselves to preside whenever the chairperson and the deputy chairperson are absent and the person so elected shall have all the powers of the chair person with respect to that meeting and the businesses transacted there at (9) Unless a unanimous decision is reached a decision on any matter before a committee shall be by a majority of the votes of the members present and voting and in case ot an equality of votes, the chairperson ot the person presiding shall have a casting vote (10) Subject to subparagraph (4), no proceeding of a committee shall be invalid by reason only on the vacancy among the members thereof 29 i021 Kericho County Climate Change No 1 (11) Subject to the piovision of this schedule, a committee may determine its own procedure and the procedure for any sub-committee of a committee and for the attendance of other person at its meeting and may make orders in respect thereof (12) Each ward committee meeting shall be conducted within the jurisdiction of the specific ward in which the ward committee is situated 2 (1) A member who has an interest in any matter presented at a meeting shall at the meeting and as soon as reasonably practicable after the commencement, disclose the fact thereof and shall not take part in the consideration or discussion of, or be counted m the quorum of the meeting during consideration of the matter (2) A disclosure of interest made under subparagraph (1) shall be recorded in the minutes of the meeting at which is it made (3) A member of the committee who contravenes subparagraph (1) shall cease to be a member of a committee subject to the direction of the county Executive committee member (4) The county Executive committee members shall (a) Prescribe an oath of service for the committees and (b) Devise a document or form to aid m the declaration of conflict which shall be administered upon the members of the committees (5) A member who contravenes the provision of this rule commits an offence 3 (1) The secretary of the committee shall be responsible for arranging the business of the committees meetings, keeping lecords of the pioceedings of the committee and shall peiform such othei duties as the comimttee may diiect (2) In the performance of the secretary duties, the secretary shall be lesponsible to the respective committee (3)The Chairperson may in the absence of the secretary appoint any membei of the committee to temporarily peiform the function of the secretary subject to such condition or restriction as a committee may determine 4 The provision of this schedule shall apply to the conduct of the business of a committee but only where no specific provisions have been made in this Act, and only m so far as they do not constitute a contradiction or negation of the provisions of the Act